1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and its method of use in intra-abdominally moving a first internal organ to a position away from a second internal organ where the apparatus holds the first internal organ in the position without further manual input. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus that is inserted through the abdominal wall and into the abdominal cavity, and the method of using the apparatus in the abdominal cavity to move a human liver to a position away from a human stomach where the apparatus holds the liver in the position without further manual input, thereby providing surgical access to the stomach.
2. Description of the Related Art
In laparoscopic surgical procedures, it is often necessary to make incisions through the abdominal wall for the sole purpose of providing access to the abdominal cavity for surgical graspers or other similar types of retracting instruments that are used to move one internal organ to a position away from a second internal organ to gain surgical access to the second internal organ. The incisions made for the surgical graspers or similar retracting instruments are in addition to the incisions made in the abdominal wall for the surgical instruments used in performing the surgical procedure on the second organ.
Furthermore, it is often necessary that an additional surgeon or surgical assistant be present solely for the purpose of manipulating the surgical graspers or other similar retracting instruments in moving the first internal organ to a position away from the second internal organ, and then manually holding the first internal organ in the position during the surgical procedure performed on the second internal organ.
The need for the additional surgical personnel to manipulate and hold the surgical graspers or other similar retracting instruments during the surgical procedure increases the costs of surgery. In addition, the additional incisions in the abdominal wall required for the surgical graspers or other similar retracting instruments often results in additional discomfort to the patient following surgery and additional scarring.
What is needed to overcome these disadvantages associated with the above-described type of laparoscopic surgical procedure is an apparatus that can be operated to intra-abdominally move a first internal organ to a position away from a second internal organ and then hold the first internal organ in the position without requiring additional manual input other than that provided by the surgeon and without requiring additional abdominal incisions other than those required for the surgery.